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Letter from the Chair

The Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine is integral to the healthcare, education and research missions at OHSU.

We provide clinical services at OHSU hospitals and collaborate with the VA Portland Health Care System. We specialize in providing excellent perioperative care and anesthesia services to our patients using state-of-the-arttechnology and pharmacologic tools with an emphasis on patient safety.Pre-operative assessment is facilitated by electronic data collecting systems and is integral to minimizing patient risk.

Anesthesiologists work independently in the operating rooms or in care teams with our fellows, residents, and nurse anesthetists. Post-operativecare is under the purview of our department both in the post-anesthesia careunit (PACU) and in cardiovascular and neurosciences intensive care units. In the ICU our team includes anesthesiology intensivists, critical care fellows, physician assistants/nurse practitioners, and residents. The role of our teamin the ICUs is comprehensive and critical to achieving the highest quality outcomes for our patients.

We also act as consultants in the post-operative period to provide expertise in the comprehensive management of patient pain. In conjunction with our regional anesthesiology team, we were among the leading centers in the country to develop an ambulatory regional anesthesia program. Our peripheral nerve catheter/home pump program allows orthopedic surgery patients to benefit from continuous pain relief for days while recovering at home following surgery.

Our department's research program is ranked among the top 20 in National Institutes of Health funding for anesthesia departments nationally and serves OHSU and the VA. Our basic science program is focused on neuroscience and renal physiology, and our clinical research is focused on patient safety and pain management. Our very active education research group focuses on life-long learning strategies, particularly in the area of regional anesthesia. Attending physicians, fellows, residents, and medical students work collaboratively with Ph.D. scientists in our labs to advance human health.

Our department is dedicated to providing the highest quality and most innovative education training in the country for residents, fellows, and medical students, with trainee opportunities at OHSU and the VA.

The Anesthesiology Residency Review Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has consistently awarded ourprogram full accreditation. We were the first program in the U.S. to be approved by the ACGME and ABA to allow for integrated training of research andanesthesiology and critical care medicine and anesthesiology. We were also the first program to offer advanced curriculum options for our residents, on a voluntary basis through our EXCEL program.We offer fellowships in Pediatric Anesthesiology, Adult Critical Care, Regional Anesthesia and Pain Management. The scope of our training opportunities is extensive and includes exposure to a wide variety of patient diseases and surgical procedures as well as CPC and ICU training with dedicated time in our full-body human simulation laboratory.We are a large department –with over 250 faculty and staff –yet we are aclose community highly committed to teamwork to deliver the highest level ofpatient care, training and research.

I am pleased to bring my 32 years of experience in the department to the role of interim chair. I am focused on building on the outstanding accomplishments achieved by Dr. Jeff Kirsch, who served as our chair from 2002 to 2018 and remains on the faculty as a key part of our team.

Thank you for visiting our website to learn more about us.Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.